To Fill the Void
by Stormecho
Summary: "I was so lonely..." Even a husk without life misses what it can never have. In a decaying dream, a boy awakens, but even realizing how he got there could be much more difficult than ever expected.


**nI**

* * *

"_I was so..."

* * *

_

The wind keened mournfully, rattling against the empty frames of windows and doors, spinning cobwebs that disappeared when he blinked. The wind was the sound of a dying creature, or maybe an already dead one, its breath caught and only now released in one last gasp.

The buildings were covered with rust, motes of dust swirling in the light that came in through shattered windows. He never really gave much thought to who had broken them, or if the glass was around for him to cut his feet on.

He was wearing shoes, wasn't he? So it was safe. When he checked though, he was barefoot, the concrete of the floor uncomfortably hard and cold. He had been sure there had been dust, or something underneath to keep him from feeling the chill – but maybe not. Shrugging, he fussed with his jacket, feeling the strange absence of weight on his back. His pack wasn't with him. That was weird too, but it didn't really matter, did it? He must have left it somewhere.

Best to look for it. It was... important, though he couldn't remember why.

With that in mind, he took a step forward.

* * *

"_So lonely..."_

_

* * *

_

The sky was so dull, the clouds a strange greasy grey, tinged with brown as if they were about to weep rust. It looked like a storm was coming, and he didn't really want to be here when it hit. There was a weird itching sensation on his back, as if he was being watched – it must have been from all the blank windows, like gouged out eyes. He could easily imagine ghosts phasing from window to window, watching him when his back was turned.

Ghosts – there was something there that was important too, like his pack. He had... Ghost Pokemon? No, that didn't feel right. But he _did _have Pokemon – he knew it with a surge of certainty. He had been a trainer, and he had Pokemon, and he had to find them! They had to be with his pack, waiting for him to get back to them...

As he went from a shuffle to a run, he winced; he could feel tiny prickles as the concrete turned into dry twigs, snapping underfoot. Right outside the city was a forest of stunted trees, all stripped bare as if it was late fall. There weren't even any piles of leaves, just... dry soil and twigs, loose and dusty. Everything was dusty, here – he could feel it coating the inside of his mouth as he breathed in. That didn't really matter, though, because there was his pack, with six Pokeballs neatly arranged beside it, all in a convenient clearing. He slowed down, walked through the trees, hands already fidgeting to release his Pokemon and laugh about this whole stupid thing.

Really now, he was a trainer! He had badges and five Pokemon and everything – he couldn't get _lost_, especially not in some weird abandoned little town.

* * *

"_Until you came..."

* * *

_

Six Pokeballs, he assured himself as he scooped them up. Holding them, even in their minimized form, was a comfort. His partners and teammates were inside, his loyal friends just waiting for him to release them. The last Pokeball had been an empty one, just in case he found a wild Pokemon while training his Nincada, but that didn't mean he would leave it he –

He stopped as his fingers closed on the empty Pokeball. His back prickled again, stabbed with unseen eyes, and he turned around, expecting to see some creeper or maybe a wild Pokemon that got too close.

"_My trainer." _The voice was wistful and childlike, coming from this pale little insect that was hovering there, staring at him. It wasn't anything to look at, really – all dry and stunted like everything here, and an odd little sliver of white hovered above its head like an absurd halo. He frowned, because it looked familiar, but he didn't have time to complete the thought before it performed an inane little twirl in the air, its back now facing him. There was something wrong here, and he struggled to make sense of it.

"What are you?"

"_I'm your Pokemon." _He looked down at the Pokeballs, strapped to his belt, and then back up to the floating insect. There was something weird about it's back, something shimmering... A light?

"No. I already have all my Pokemon."

"_I am the last." _The air seemed to sigh with it, echoing – _the last, the last, the last._

"I never caught you."

"_I was born." _And suddenly it drifted backwards, that weird back-light proving to be a strange pool. Mercury? Or some kind of weird liquid, because it rippled, distorted reflections showing up on its surface. He squinted as the pool glowed white, before dimming the radiance. It showed a sky, clouds all torn up, and then the upper half of a grassy field. He couldn't hear voices, but he saw what was definitely a Ninjask hovering nearby before zooming out of sight – and then long meaty things that he realized were hands. The view changed, and narrowed, and he was looking at himself, faces a mirror of surprise and confusion – and then the view rolled back to staring pointlessly a distorted sky.

"_Do you see?" _it asked, calmly, as if he hadn't just seen... whatever that had been. _"I was born, but I was lonely. I do not have what the others have." _It spun back around, but like a robot, or a piece of wood, without moving anything separately. _"They had life," _it finished, almost mournfully.

Dead city, dead trees, dead bug. Not that finding that out helped make any more sense. "What did you do? That was – that was me, wasn't it? I never saw you before!"

"_I did not mean to... I was lonely," _it repeated, and a wind picked up, making the branches of the trees click against each other. _"I was lonely. Don't you like it here, trainer? It wasn't my fault..." _

"Like this place? It's... it's creepy! Everything is abandoned! Take me back!"

"_You don't like it?" _It was still staring at him, and he couldn't tell if it was angry or shocked. _"I was lonely, and so empty... but you came here, so I made things for you!" _It wasn't breathing, wasn't moving. Wasn't it dead? It _looked _dead, and halfway to heaven with that weird halo.

"I didn't come here because I wanted to, you know. My team... my family, my Pokemon – they're all back there." Shouting wasn't doing anything, so he switched to pleading, hoping it would realize what it needed to do. "Please? Take me back?"

The trees were shaking now, creaking as if they were about to fall down. _"There's no way back. But you're here, and I was lonely and empty – but everything's better now._

"_You're here now. With me."_

**etiniF**


End file.
